Strap-fastener.



P. W HODGKINSON'.

STRAP FASTENER. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 5, 1911.

Patented Aug. 12, 1913.

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PERCY W. HODGKINSON, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 'I'O FARNUM F.

DORSEY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

STRAP-FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 12,1913.

Application filed January 5, 1911. Serial No. 601,020.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, PERCY W. HODGKIN- SON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Strap- Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for fastening and tightening straps, of the type in which a lever is employed to secure the straps to a ring or eye. In devices of the kind in question it is common to provide means of some sort, such, for example, as a sliding ring mounted upon the strap, to engage the end of the lever and hold it in operative position.

One object of the present invention is to produce a device of this kind in which the lever-retaining means are of novel and simple construction, and particularly in which these means are adapted to hold the lever securely whether the strap be tight or loose, and without regard to vibrations to which the strap and the fastener may be subjected. In carrying out this object I employ the resistance of the strap to twisting as a means for maintaining the lever and its retaining device in operative engagement, the parts being so arranged that to release the lever it is necessary to twist the strap to a substantial degree from its normal position.

Another object of the invention is to simplify the construction of the strap-fastener by combining in one member, such as a buckle, both the function of securing the lever in operative position, and the function of adjustably fixing the loop of the strap in which the lever is pivoted. To this end I employ a buckle having a tongue engaging perforations in both the body and the end of the strap, whereby the strap is secured in loop form, the lever being pivoted in the loop so produced, and the buckle in question is provided with the means preferably integral therewith, by which the free end of the lever is detachably secured.

The invention is particularly adapted for use in connection with the straps employed as stays for folding or cape tops on motorvehicles. These straps have frequently to be fastened under considerable tension, and are subjected, when the motor-vehicle is running, to severe vibrations, and are frequently loosened and tightened by the vibration of the top. When the invention is illustrated as employed in this connection, the

Fig. 1 the lever 5 is provided with an integral eye 6, by which the lever is pivoted in the looped end of the strap 7. The end of the strap is doubled back, and is secured adjustably by means of a buckle. This buckle comprises a frame 8 having at the middle a cross-piece 9 from which a post 10 projects downwardly. This post engages holes 11 in the strap, and thus secures the strap adjustably.

The abutments for securing the lever in operative position are in the form of two lugs 12 projecting upwardly from the frame of the buckle. The lever has a flattened eX- tremity 13 which is normally retained by the lugs, as shown in Fig. 1. In securing the strap the lever is passed through the eye 14:, to which the strap is to be secured, the lever, with the exception of the eye-portion, being made suiiiciently narrow or slender for this purpose, and being bent back or recurved from the eye so as to form a hook-like portion engaging the eye. The lever is then swung upwardly so as to tighten the strap, and the strap is then twisted, as shown in Fig. 2, thereby bringing the lugs into such position that the flattened end of the lever may be passed between them. The strap,

when released from the twisting action, resumes is normal position, and the lugs then overhang both edges of the end of the lever and retain it securely. To release the lever and disengage it from the eye 14 the strap must be again twisted to permit the lever to pass between the lugs. In adjusting the length of the strap, the strap is disengaged from the post and then moved, in opposite directions, through the buckle so as to increase, or diminish, the length of the loose extremity 15 of the strap without changing the distance of the buckle from the loop.

The construction just described dispenses entirely with spring-catches, or with rings or other loose lever-retaining devices which are liable to be disengaged from the lever when the strap is loosened or shaken. It will be apparent that however loose the strap may be, it will have no tendency to twist, and thus will retain the lever securely under all conditions ordinarily encountered.

The form of the device just described is particularly adapted for use where it is desired to employ it as an adjusting device as well as a fastener. The form illustrated in Fig. 8 is particularly adapted for use in connection with a strap having a permanently formed eye at the lower end, and particu larly for application to such a strap when already provided with the ordinary snaphook. In this form of the device the integral eye 6 on the lever, shown in Fig. 1, is replaced by two depending arms 16 which are connected by a pin 17 This pin may be inserted through the loop of the strap, after removing the snap-hook without unfastening the loop, and may then be secured in place by upsetting its ends, or in any other convenient manner. In this form of the device the buckle with its lugs is replaced by a catch-plate 18 which is mounted loosely upon the strap, having hooks 19 engaging and embracing the edges of the strap. The catch-plate 18 has an elongated horizontal slot 20 which cooperates with the end of the lever. The end of the lever in this case is flattened vertically, and provided with a narrow portion or neck 21 and a wider extremity 22. When the strap is twisted the extremity 22 may be passed freely through the slot 20, but in the normal position of the parts the disengagement of the lever from the catch-plate is prevented since the extremity 22 is wider than the slot. The lever is also provided with a lug 23 which prevents the catch-plate from slipping down upon the lever.

In place of passing the lever as a whole through the eye 14 the lever may be provided, as shown in Fig. 3, with a hook 2 1 which is passed through the eye 14-. lWith this construction the pivotal movement of the lever to the position of Fig. 3 causes the hook to swing in such a manner as to have a tightening action upon the strap after the hook is engaged with the eye 14:.

It will be obvious that the cooperating abutments on the lever and the strap may be formed and arranged in various manners other than those hereinbefore described, as the essence of the invention resides broadly in the arrangement of these abutments in such a manner as to require the twisting of the strap in order to disengage them. In the preferred arrangements illustrated, however, the invention is embodied very simply in two rigid members of inexpensive construction, and springs and loose parts are entirely dispensed with.

I claim 1. A strap-fastener having, in combination, a lever adapted to be pivotally attached to a strap, and a catch adapted to be mounted upon the strap above the point of attachment of the lever, the lever having a flattened end and the catch having an elongated recess formed to receive the flattened end of the lever, the greater width of the lever being normally at an angle to the length of the recess so that the lever is disengageable from said recess only when the catch is turned from normal position by twisting the strap.

2. The combination of a strap, an eye, a lever adapted toengage the eye, and a buckle in which the end of the strap is secured adjustably in the form of a loop to which loop the lever is pivoted, the buckle being provided with two lugs projecting upwardly and toward each other and the lever having a flattened end of a width greater than the space between the extremities of the lugs and less than the space between the lower portions of the lugs, whereby the lever is normally retained by the lugs and can be disengaged from the lugs only upon twisting the strap and the buckle from normal position.

3. The combination of a strap, an eye, a lever pivotally attached to the strap and adapted to engage the eye, the lever having a flattened end, and a catch mounted on the strap and adjustable longitudinally thereon, the catch comprising two lugs projecting toward each other and spaced apart sufficiently to receive the flattened end of the lever only when the catch is turned from normal position by twisting the strap, the

.lugs overhanging and retaining the lever when the parts are in normal position.

4. A strap-fastener having, in combination, a lever provided with means for pivoting it, at one end, in the loop of a strap, the lever having a narrow recurved portion adapted to enter and engage an eye to which the strap is to be fastened, and a buckle having a frame adapted to receive both In testimony whereof, I aflix my signathiekne-sses of the looped portior;E of the ture in presence of two Witnesses.

strap and a post to engage per orations therein and hold the strap adjustably in PERCY HODGKINSON' 5 looped form, the buckle being also provided Witnesses:

with means for detachably securing the free D. GURNEE,

end of the lever. L. THON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,069,950, granted August 19, 1913, upon the application of Percy W. Hodgkinson, of Rochester, New York, for an improvement in StrapFasteners, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line'56, strike out the word When and commence the article the with a capital T, as the beginning of the sentence; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 30th day of September, A. D., 1913.

R. T. FRAZIER, Acting Commissioner of Patents.

[SEAL] 

